Archive » March 26, 2009

ON THE RANCH

I know that some of you were thrilled and relieved by the
recent court decision regarding the 3rd District election challenge between
Steve Pappas and Doreen Farr.

I also know that many others were distressed and saddened
by the recent descriptions of a lack of evidence to support the claim of fraud
in the case brought by Pappas.

What you didn’t hear about was the one incident allowed
by the court to be presented where a young student testified that she had
personally filled out her own form, turned it in, and voted only to find out
that someone else had filled out another registration form with the very same
information with the assistance of someone I shall call “Ali Baba” (and the
forty thieves?) who was apparently paid $3,000 by Doreen Farr or her campaign
for said services.

In this case, the judge was satisfied that this
individual had been able to vote and decided that the potential second vote
somehow didn’t matter or create a problem.

What we had learned earlier, I was present during the
entirety of the case, was a claim that if two votes occurred seemingly from the
same person, whichever one came in first was counted and the other was thrown
away.

Although no evidence of this was actually presented, it
does make me wonder how one can tell which vote is the legitimate one.

I can’t say that anyone was terribly surprised at the
outcome of this first phase of the pursuit of legitimacy.

It seemed fairly evident even before the trial began that
the court was not inclined to give much credence to the Pappas attorneys, while
all manner of latitude was afforded the opposition.

It was a bit mind-boggling to see the group of people
whose names you knew but weren’t aware of, just how cozy they all were. I guess
it should not be a surprise as this election effort has been perfected probably
by the same group over many years.

It is nice that the same script has been followed and now
that that has been discovered, future litigation will have an easier time to
expose it.

As I said at the beginning, this is not over. While
briefs are being prepared and decisions are waited for, plans are being made to
pursue our constitutionally guaranteed free and fair election to its logical
conclusion.

In the meantime, be patient and be assured that the laws
that have been passed to guarantee that who is voting is who they say they are
will be followed.

If they have to dip their fingers in purple ink in Iraq
to make sure people don’t vote more than once, why would Santa Barbara County
want anything less? Apparently, there are some here who do.

Urgent
notice

It has come to my attention that there is a move afoot to
surreptitiously remove Williamson Act agricultural land by petition to our Board
of Supervisors for cultural buildings, housing and other infrastructure
developments for Native American Tribes or other tribal groups.

This legislation has been re-introduced by Senator Dean Florez (D-Bakersfield) and is being sponsored by our local “Chumash”
or Mission Band of Indians. This bill was first proposed last year by Assemblymember Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia).

When this bill appeared the first time, it was opposed by
the Farm Bureau because of how cash-rich tribes are expanding their real estate
holdings without regard to the land’s agricultural preserve status. As
California remains dependent on its rich agricultural production for income, it
behooves all of us to help keep it viable.

If we do not act to keep our agricultural lands in
agriculture, we will become beholden to some other country for our very
sustenance, just like we have allowed ourselves to become dependent on foreign
oil even when we have our own supply available.

Many of us in agriculture have worked hard to keep
producing the sustenance people require and have been supportive of efforts by
government to support us in turn by keeping the Williamson Act in place. It
assures that land in productive agriculture will not be forced out by rising
tax bills fueled by development speculation.

It is not clear to me why our local tribe is sponsoring
this bill, but I am sure that we must encourage our representatives, local and
state, immediately to oppose this bill until we understand better what the
intentions are. We cannot afford to lose more agricultural land in this state
and we need to respond quickly to have our voices heard. SB 170 will be heard
in the Senate Local Government Committee sometime after March 17.

Weeds
in the river

Last week I received a notice that funds were being applied
for that would enable our county to apply for funds from our broke State of
California to get rid of some weeds in the Santa Ynez River. The programs that
would be applied to would be the Department of Water Resources Urban Streams
Restoration and California River Parkways Programs to eradicate giant reed and
tamarisk. These weeds can create flooding situations and erosion. Various
chemicals along with hand removal are proposed as techniques to be used in
accomplishing this task.

A letter has been sent to river property owners for
permission to access their property for the purposes of removing the offending
plants that have somehow been identified on their properties.

I believe I was told that an aerial survey was used
although I wonder how accurate that is. I received a notice on the date of the
first meeting and fortunately we had someone who could attend the meeting to
get further information.

There will be two other informational meetings and I hope
you will attend, particularly if you are affected. The dates of the meetings to
be held in Solvang at the Veteran’s Memorial Building are March 25 and 31.

There are a couple of immediate questions I have. The
county is asking for either 10- or 20-year access permission, which seems
really excessive to me and I would not be inclined to agree for such a long
term. And since when is the Santa Ynez River an “urban stream?”

On
the road again

As I write this, I am driving over the Donner Pass
between Sacramento and Reno on my way to Nampa, Idaho for another reined cow
horse show. This time it is the National Reined Cow Horse Association’s Stakes
for four- and five-year-olds. I also have a horse, “Bentley,” who will be
showing in the Open Bridle for the first time.

We have just passed 3,000 feet and the sun has gone down.
It is 45 degrees outside and we have another 5,000 feet to climb. There is snow
everywhere and I only hope that the road stays clear until we get over the top
safely and get down the hill to Reno without incident. The trees are all
covered with snow and it is really quite beautiful but also requiring much
caution. As dusk falls, I am anxious to reach Reno so we may have a nice dinner
and rest before heading out again tomorrow for Nampa, near Boise. There we will
see our horses and my oldest sister who lives there. I am looking forward to
all of that.

We did make it safely over the pass with only a couple of
stops for people who had spun out or who couldn’t keep their tires from making
them waffle all over the road.

One such individual was doing this right in front of us,
which was a bit scary, but eventually they got stopped and we were able to pass
and go on our way. At the summit it was 34 degrees, two above freezing, and it
was still cold in Reno. We passed Truckee, a town we have visited before with
our friends from Reno, and it was seven big degrees last night. Eek!

The road from here, we turn off at Winnemucca, is
supposed to be cold but clear. We shall see.